I've come to the conclusion that a simple caddis nymph would work for that. It looks much like the black caddis in another post in this forum and I imagine I'm not the first to think this. Something else that came to mind when I saw that was mealworm or waxworm. There's an oldie from my bait days.

i used to use them for bait and the bass used to really tear them up i used to seine them from a small feeder creek into the monongahela river (probably toilet drains ) them crayfish and a monniw with an orange stripe down the side the cranefly larvae i used to get were like 2.5 to 3 inches long and fat really fat

Posted on: 2012/2/6 20:09

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fly fishing - an addiction in which no one wants an intervention

so what about a size 14 or a 16 adult cranefly?..you're telling me the larva for that adult is 1.5" long?....i've seen humangous craneflies so i have no doubt their larva is probably gimangous like that photo...but for smaller ones?...

The differences among cranefly larvae are extreme. The Antocha live in rocky areas of trout streams, are very small and hatch in the stream. The big ones you only see in silty stream sections after they have been disturbed are a juicy wriggling, writhing specimen and depending on which one, easily a couple of inches long. I have seen these in the Yellow Breeches. Whitlock came up with a pattern for the big ones. The little Antocha versions are probably only useful as wet flies, if then. The mid size ones buzz the surface to lay eggs and get attention from trout. I have skated hackled dries with occasional success after seeing them in action, but the misses outnumber the hookups, at least for me.